December 18: After we landed in Amsterdam, we checked the monitor for our flight to Kiev and began walking to Terminal D. After walking for what seemed like 3 miles, we arrived at our gate and obtained our boarding passes. The flight boarded and left Amsterdam pretty much on schedule and we finally got a tiny amount of sleep. As we descended into Kiev, we could see beautiful, snow covered fields. After landing, we were greeted by extremely long lines in Passport Control. It took us about an hour to get through the line and enter Ukraine. There was a huge crowd of people waiting for all the passengers but we immediately saw Yulia and our driver holding a sign with our names on it. We quickly made our way to the CBN van along with a couple of other friends that Yulia had seen at the airport and had offered for them to ride with us. Instead of heading for our apartment to go to bed, Yulia had a surprise for us. We were going to a restaurant to meet Nataliya and her family, and Anya, and others. We had a great time fellowshipping and talking with them and were thrilled to finally meet Nataliya face to face after talking with her and emailing her for several years! Nataliya then shared with us that when we got to the apartment that another Yulia (who worked with us on our shipment) and a lady, Lynn, from Virginia would be there so that she could ask us some questions about adoption older children. Somehow we managed to have a good time talking with her before we finally collapsed into bed at about 7:30 pm Kiev time (after about 28 hours without any significant amount of sleep). Unfortunately, I woke up after only 3 hours thinking that I had been asleep all night and couldn’t go to sleep again for most of the night.
December 19: We both decided to get up in plenty of time to get ready before leaving with Yulia for our SDA appointment at 10:00. Since we had allowed an hour for our drive, because so many people warned us of early morning traffic, we were surprised it only took us 15 minutes to get to the SDA office. We couldn’t go inside yet, because the SDA has no waiting area, only a small entrance way with no chairs. There were already several other people standing there waiting inside. Since we left so early, we didn’t have time for breakfast, Yulia suggested we go somewhere for hot tea. We thought she meant a cozy little cafe, but she only meant to walk a few feet to a small trailer parked nearby, serving fresh, hot pastries. They had some piping hot chocolate, and that sounded good to us. We bought two cups and some small pastries filled with meat and fruit. It was cold and there was no where to sit, so we went back to the car to eat our breakfast and wait for our appointment time. Finally, the time came for us to walk into the SDA for our appointment. Valery had met us there and informed us that we were the only couple on the schedule and that they had told him that our paperwork would be ready the same day instead of waiting until the next morning. This would allow us to go ahead and fly to Mariupol and drive to Berdyansk this evening. We were overjoyed as the Psychologist called us into her office for our interview. She really didn’t ask us many questions, but she commented on Tamara’s name and wanted to know if she was of Ukrainian or Russian descent. Tamara (whom I call Tammy) is often is asked this question, and she simply said, “I realize I have a Russian name. My Mother chose a Russian name for me.” The psychologist smiled and seemed pleased of this fact. We showed her some family pictures on our laptop which she really enjoyed. Then, she thanked us for taking the boys and welcoming them into our family. After this, she showed us the pages of information for Sasha and Zhenya. We took pictures of the photographs that were attached before being sent on our way. Yulia accompanied us to buy the tickets and then to 
the Emmanuel Office where we attended their chapel service, checked email, ate lunch, and met with Galina and Yulia of the Operation Blessing staff. They filled us in on the details regarding the distribution of our shipment of supplies which was divided between 4 orphanages. We enjoyed all of this very much and it was great to hear more details regarding our shipment, however we were suddenly hit hard by the effects of jet lag. Once back in Karen and Yulia’s office, Yulia turned on some soft praise music, and made us some hot tea. I wanted to lie down in the floor and go to sleep but was somehow able to stay awake. Ginger called from the hospital so I could talk to my Mother for a few minutes. She wasn’t doing well, and everyone was growing more concerned due to her kidneys not functioning. We asked Yulia to join us in prayer and asked God to intervene in what appeared to be a hopeless situation.After this, we didn’t want to just sit in the office, and were still feeling very tired. Yulia took us to tour their TV studio prior to the time when Valery would arrive with out papers and we could head to the airport. Thanks to our driver’s skill in rush hour traffic, we were able to make it there in plenty of time. Our flight boarded on schedule and we had a good, one and a half hour flight to Mariupol. Our driver was waiting for us when we got there so we began our last leg of the journey. Due to icy roads, we drove carefully so it took a little over 2 hours for the trip that is normally a little over an hour. We arrived at the Hotel Berdyansk, checked into our rooms. After Valery and I found a small restaurant open and brought back some pizza and chicken sandwiches, we ate and immediately went to bed. Once again we woke up after only a couple of hours and had a hard time sleeping the rest of the night due to the excitement about getting to see Vitya and Sasha the next day.
December 20: After eating a quick breakfast at the Hotel, we carefully walked around for about 20 min. on icy sidewalks and streets looking for the Inspector’s office to begin our process. After this, we then walked to the Head Inspector’s office and finally the Notary’s office prior to getting a taxi to take us to the Boarding School. An Italian couple who were meeting a precious brother and sister that they were planning to adopt were in Galina’s office when we arrived so we sat down across the hall in the library and then looked for all of Vitya’s paintings in the Arts and Crafts room. While we were waiting, Galina came into the room to prep the children who were about to meet the Italian couple. She saw us and happily came over to give us hug and welcome us. She took the children into her office and we had to wait a few more minutes to be called. Tammy said she could feel butterflies in her stomach and felt a little nervous, but in a good way. I was also excited, even though I had already met the boys. As we were being told that we could come into the office, my daughter, Ginger called me to tell me that my Mother’s condition had worsened and that her doctors were giving her very little hope of living more than a few more days. I tried to talk with my mother for a minute, but she was very hard to understand and I had to go into the office for our discussion about the boys. This was very difficult for me because of what was happening back home. I have never felt such joy and sadness at the same moment. I knew the boys would be coming into the room soon and I was overwhelmed with so many different emotions. After some opening remarks by the Chief Inspector and the Boarding School’s Lawyer, the school doctor went over the boys’ medical history. Finally, Vitya and Sasha came into the office with smiling faces. It was wonderful for me to see them again but much more wonderful for Tamara to see them for the first time. She was overwhelmed with joy almost like a small child on Christmas morning. It had been about 18 months since we first found out about the boys so she had been waiting a very long time to meet them. We stood there and embraced each other for several minutes, all very happy to be together.
Galina, wept uncontrollably as she talked about Vitya and told us that “she didn’t know how she would make it without him as her assistant.” She told us how he had been elected the School President for the last 3 years and about how great of a leader he was for all the children in the school. She said she would never be able to replace him and there would never be anyone else like him, she was certain. She pointed at Sasha’s picture on her office wall as she told us how smart he is and what a great person he is, and that his photo would remain in that place forever. After they both indicated their desire to be adopted, we only had a few minutes to talk to them and give them hugs before we had to run out to get to the Notary before her office closed. As we were leaving, we saw our friend, Don Norton and Misha from the CBN Training Center as they were coming to tutor the boys in English. We barely made it to the Notary on time but were able to sign the necessary documents. While we were beginning to sign the documents at the Notary, my daughter Ginger called me once again with more bad news about my Mother’s condition. Knowing what my Mother and my children were going through back home made everything that was so joyful happening with us bittersweet. It was incredible to all of us how fast everything was moving! After we went back to the Hotel for a few minutes, Tamara went on to bed while Valery and I went out for a quick supper.
December 21: We had to wake up early in order to drive to Takmak and Molochansk to get the process rolling for Zhenya. We had arranged for Don to pick us up at the hotel and drive us in his van for our journey. We knew this would be a good way to get to visit with Don and catch up on his ministry in Berdyansk as a carpenter, renovating a church by day, and an English Teacher by night. It was wonderful for Tamara and I to get to talk with Don again as we drove approximately 100 kms. Don told us several funny stories about his English tutoring of Vitya and Sasha. One of the funniest was about him and Misha setting up a pretend restaurant so that the boys could practice ordering food in English. When Don asked Sasha what he would like to have to drink, he responded with “water”. Don then asked him what he would like to eat and he said “bread”. Don then told him that most resteraunts bring water and bread complimentary, and asked him “what do you want to eat besides water and bread?”. Sasha then responded with the Russian word for “watermelon” which caused everyone to burst into laughter. Since Sasha received this response for his choice, he repeated it every time they played the restaurant game, telling Don, who played the part of the waiter, that he wanted water, bread and watermelon.Unfortunately, Valery was not feeling well and had a bad headache as we arrived in Takmak about 9:00 am and found the Inspector’s office without very much difficulty. When we got to her door, it was locked so Valery asked around until he was able to find out that she and her staff was in a meeting. After the meeting was over, we met with her and arranged the visit to the Molochansk orphanage. It was hard to find the orphanage because it was located on the outskirts of town but we finally found it and went inside to the Director’s office. The director began talking about Zhenya and it was hard for us to believe when he also described him as his “assistant” just as Galina had said about Vitya. Zhenya entered, almost running in, and sat down between the Director and the Inspector. The Director continued describing him to us by telling us about his athletic ability and his good marks in school. We had a long discussion that included a very realistic description of what he could expect in America and asked him whether or not he understood the challenges that lay ahead. He said that he had discussed this with his brothers and did understand and still wanted to be adopted. Once again, we had to leave quickly to get back to Takmak where Don, Tamara and I ate at a little cafe while Valery finished some paperwork at the Inspector’s office.
We then headed back to Berdyansk to meet with the judge about our case and set the court date. She asked us several questions about why we wanted such a large family and also why we wanted older children. Tamara explained that it was never in our initial plans to have such a large family but is something that developed over time due to finding out about additional siblings. We told her that we think it is very important (in fact it is Ukrainian law) to keep siblings together in the same family. Tamara also explained that we didn’t want to go back to the season of diapers or even preschool but that the older children are actually much easier and help our family in many ways (after the initial adjustment). The judge said that she thought the older children were harder because they are almost adults and Tamara responded that this is probably true with the average older child but all of these boys have received a very high recommendation from their Directors and teachers concerning their respect for authority and rules, leadership abilities and their cooperative dispositions. We feel that it is safe to say that we are adopting some special boys that will make the most of their opportunity. Tamara also told the judge that more families should adopt older children that are aging out of the orphanages because so many of them become involved with crime, prostitution or drugs when they are forced to leave. Finally, she seemed satisfied with our answers and told Valery that we could have the court date on either next Thursday or Friday depending on when our paperwork is ready. After leaving the judges office, Valery and I ate supper in the hotel cafe before I went back to the room and wrote this blog up to this point.
December 22: As usual, Tamara and I woke up about 4:30 am and couldn’t go back to sleep so we prayed and talked until sunrise and then got ready to go eat breakfast. We decided to go on to the orphanage and see if Vitya and Sasha wanted to go with us to Molochansk to complete Zhenya’s paperwork and bring him back to Berdyansk. We first met with Galina for a few minutes before the boys arrived. We all looked at pictures on my laptop until Valery came and told us that we would have to go now instead of after lunch because the lawyer was having trouble filling out the papers. We called Misha at the CBN Training Center and he arranged have a friend with a nice Mercedes mini-bus take us. We had a good time talking and laughing with Vitya and Sasha all the way to Molochansk.When we got to the orphanage, Zhenya took us on a tour while Valery began working with the Director and the lawyer. The orphanage was very clean inside and better equipped than we anticipated. There was a home economics room complete with a kitchen and bedroom/dining room/living room where the students could practice all aspects of keeping house. The auditorium was beautifully decorated for their Christmas dance with a huge Christmas tree in the center. We watched as some of the children practiced an acrobatic dance that they were going to perform. Everywhere we walked we were accompanied by a group of children. It was amazing to us to find out that a large number of them knew Vitya and Sasha because they had previously been at Berdyansk. We thought that Valery would be almost finished by the time we completed the tour but instead he called the boys into the Director’s office and had them all write their adoption commitment letter. After they finished, Valery had even more work to do with the lawyer so I got my laptop out and showed some pictures to all the children. Tamara had to go to the restroom during this time and two teenage girls, Luba and Christina, seeming honored, happily escorted her to show the way by one taking each of her arms. They were thrilled to be able to hold her coat for her and make sure she had some “boo ma ga”, toilet paper.
We then went outside and made a short video with the boys that ended with Tamara videoing Sasha and Vitya saying hello to all the children back home. When it was Zhena’s turn to be on the video, he immediately said “toilet?” and ducked inside the front doors of the school. That was his great escape from the camera. He actually just came in and sat down by me on a bench.
Valery, the School Lawyer and the Director took a long time getting all the paperwork in order. So, we looked at photos on the lap top and tried to pass the time. A boy showed up with a soccer ball and Tamara and Sasha began gently kicking it back and forth to one another on the wood floor. It seemed like it took 6 hrs. for Valery to finish. Finally, the time came that we piled back into the van with all 3 boys. It was after dark before we headed back to Takmak. After a snack of cookies and chips, we all took a nap on the way to Berdyansk. When we arrived, I decided that we would go to the Pizza restaurant before the boys returned to the orphanage. We ordered salads and four pizzas and had a good time eating together. To our knowledge, this was the first time any of the boys had eaten pizza. We then called two taxis and sent the boys back in one while we took the other back to the hotel. After checking email, we went back to our room.
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